


for once, i was alright

by samuela



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bad Jokes, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Jokes, Kissing, Not Beta Read, Sleepiness, Talking, dont ask why lmao, dont mind me really, oh lord i should delete this but i was too desperate for jlaire content, this is just pointless aged-up jlaire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 08:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13714197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samuela/pseuds/samuela
Summary: Between teasing and serious talk, it's kinda nice. It's kinda nice how it turned out after all.





	for once, i was alright

**Author's Note:**

> i'm highkey way too embarrassed to post this but here goes nothing 
> 
> for the glory of me(rlin), pls dont be mean 
> 
> english is neither my first language and i don't have a beta, so please excuse me for any misspellings or grammar mistakes of sorts. 
> 
> enjoy?

“You’ve read enough for today, Claire.”

 

Claire’s reply is a mere chuckle- meant to mock Jim. “You can never read enough, Jim,” She replies, and her voice is smooth. “You can only read too little.” she turns to him, her eyes glimmering mischievously. Jim raises an eyebrow in response, and he moves his arm from where he’s embracing Claire’s shoulder and closes the book for her instead. He does it slowly, so that Claire’s thumb is caught between the pages. He half-expects her to open it again, she doesn’t.

 

She leans up from her spot in the sofa and brushes her lips against Jim’s, but not giving him the kiss yet. He’s a gentle kisser, though, his lips aren’t the ideal for gentle kisses. They’re cracked and rough, in contrast to Claire’s; soft and smooth, who preferred passionate kissing. Not that it matters, because Claire loves it anyway. “Come to bed,” Jim murmurs against her lips. “Let’s switch the lights of and go to sleep. You’ve read enough to call it a day. Or a week with the amounts of book that you read.”

 

“That’s a matter of interpretation,” Claire uttered, moving away from Jim’s lips slightly, that she can only feel Jim’s warm breath. “I happen to think that I haven’t read enough. And it’s not like you haven’t spent entire nights reading books.”

 

“I have, yes, but there are many days to come,” Jim reminds her, and he rubs her shoulder. “Many days of you reading and pouring your heart into it. And me, I guess.”

 

“I can’t pour my heart into it,” Claire mumbles and closes her eyes. “My heart is yours, after all.”

 

Jim, satisfied by the reply, just kisses her.

 

“Sap,” he accuses after kissing her, whispering the words against her lips. “We’re all sentimental saps in this house,” Claire teases, lips still tingling. “I’m not,” Jim denies vehemently, face beginning to turn red.

 

“You are,” Claire insists.

 

“I’m not.”

 

“Are.”

 

He burrows his head in her shoulder. “Not,” He mumbles from there. She strokes his hair. “It’s okay, Jim. You can admit how much you love me already and be all sappy and sentimental about it.”

 

“First of all,” He begins. “Not a sap,” he reminds, lips curled with a fake pout (“Yes you are,” Claire interrupts hearty). “Second of all, you’re very confident about me loving you,” Jim says, and he jumps over the sofa to sit next to her. He taps her knee firmly. “Too confident in my opinion….” He trails off. He then grins. “Keep it that way.”

 

“I always knew, deep in my heart, that you’ve always loved me.” Claire taps his cheek. “I thought that your heart was mine?” Jim asks playfully.

 

“Isn’t Daylight yours already?” Claire asks back with the same tone. “But yes, that’s true. Then I guess I could feel that you’ve always loved me in _your_ heart.” 

 

“Thief.”

 

“First of I’m a sentimental sap and now I’m thief. Get a grip, Lake, and wrap your mind around it. Why am I a thief now?” She crosses her arms and watches him with a bemused look. Jim leans in with a rather smug look. “You stole my heart.”

 

“But I gave you mine in return, though,” Claire replies easily, her voice silky, as if she tries to seduce him again. “Doesn’t mean it’s not a robbery,” Jim counters.

 

It’s quiet between the two, Claire’s busy thinking and Jim’s busy being smug. “Touché,” She finally admits, “But I don’t feel guilty about it,” she warns. “Didn’t expect you to and don’t want you to,” Jim simply replies. “Besides, I’m happy about it.” He grabs Claire’s hand and presses a kiss on it. “What would I do without you?”

 

“Would you even be here if I weren’t here?” Claire jokes.

 

“No, most likely not,” Jim answers. After a few seconds he adds: “definitely not.”

 

“Always suspected you needed me.” Claire playfully punches Jim’s arm.

 

“You thought?” huffs Jim. “You should know.”

 

“Well then I suppose it’s a mutual thing,” Claire laughs and throws her head back, letting her shoulders slump. “I don’t even want to imagine what I’d be doing right now if it weren’t for you,” she remarks and intertwines her hand with Jim’s. “Yeah, that’s true. I really didn’t expect it to turn out this way. Even after the amulet was found- I honestly thought I’d never get to experience peace again. Actual peace, not just small fragments of it,” Jim admits and squeezes in her hand. “Before I found out about Trolls, well,” Jim grimaces. “I would’ve never imagined something just, like _this_.”

 

“But it’s good, right?” Claire inquires curiously.

 

“Damn good,” confirms Jim and looks at her, smiling mischievously. “Some may even say, _crispy_.”

 

 “ _James Lake Junior_.”

 

“Yes, my fair Claire, anything I can help you with?” Jim teases. Claire rolls her eyes. “You may help me by escorting me to our bedroom and never, ever saying ‘crispy’ again.”  

 

“Anything you want, Claire-bear,” Jim agrees. He laughs softly upon seeing Claire’s glare. “Let’s just go to bed and finally sleep, I’m really tired.”

 

Claire is the one who eventually guides them to their bedroom, humming softly. “Perhaps sleeping is a good idea after all,” she remarks, still humming. She grins at Jim. “I need to be refreshed, so I can read more books tomorrow.”

 

“You know, I must say that I really do admire your capability to read so many books,” Jim smiles tiredly. “My head gets already fuzzy after finishing a few books, but I think I’ve been learning to process more books at the time. Then again, you read a lot of books, so I don’t think I’ll ever beat you,” he jokes, grinning as well. “Man, when is the last time I’ve read a book for fun? I only read now for the sake of being a Trollhunter. To be fair, I’d love to just sit down and read a few books with you. Ideal date, right? And a vacation.”

 

She knows Jim’s trying to be funny- and genuine, but a hollow feeling still claws at Claire’s chest. She tries to smile, but it’s a half-hearted one. Thankfully, Jim’s too tried to notice. Claire more often questioned whether the amulet had been a blessing for her- more importantly Jim or rather a burden pushing upon his shoulders, of which she and the rest of the team could only take so much.

 

There’s a silence. It’s not unpleasant nor is it exactly pleasant, Claire takes the opportunity to inspect Jim. His eyes are a soft shade of blue, still holding the seven seas in them. His legs are still skinny, as is the rest of his body, but he’s definitely grown in general- Jim got another growth-spurt that made him from being a merely centimetre taller than her to a few good inches taller than her. (Sometimes, she hated it. Sometimes, she loved it).

 

She stops guiding them and stops humming as well, she then takes a step in Jim’s direction. Jim tilts his head questioningly, and his questions become more when Claire trails her fingers on his cheeks, carefully, as if he made of a thin layer of glass.

 

“Claire?”

 

She drops her hand. “I’m kind of tired too,” she whispers, and she looks away, avoiding Jim’s eyes wanting to meet hers.

 

They don’t speak again when they’re both under the covers for a few minutes. “Jim?” Claire calls quietly, as she looks at her Jim’s closed eyes. She hoped he wasn’t sleeping and that she woke him up. “Mhm,” Jim hums in response.

 

“You said you found peace… but did you really?”

 

“Of course I did.” Jim opens his eyes. “Why?”

 

“Nothing, I was just reflecting on everything that happened in the past five years and I just wondered if you were, actually happy and content with your life, as the Trollhunter and all.”

 

Jim sat up, switched the lights on and rubbed in his eyes. “Claire, of course my- our life,” he corrects mid-way the sentence, “is going to be different than other people. That’s just the way it is. But that’s okay? Because I think we totally nailed it,” He smiles, genuinely. “We totally made the best out of the situation. And I couldn’t be more content and happier in my life than this.” He takes her hands in his and squeezes them.

 

Claire smiles as well, her stomach tingling the same was as when they began dating. “I guess.” She sits up as well and leans on him. “Do you think we’ve changed a lot? You know, from when we were well, younger.”

 

“You mean, aside from finishing puberty and stuff like that?” Jim asks for clarification. Claire nods. “I think we’ve changed as was necessary.” He brushes his lips alongside her cheek.

 

“That’s a comforting thought,” Claire comments, closing her eyes and savouring the moment.

 

“I know. You know what would be even more of a comforting thought?”

 

“No, tell me about it.”

 

“If you would please stop stealing my clothes.”

 

“But you have like five of these, Jim,” Claire protests. “How many sweatpants and white shirts do you need anyway? Let alone the number of blue vests that you have. Is there any diversity in your clothing?”

 

“Yes,” Jim confirms, “I have the Daylight armour as well.”

 

Claire rolls her eyes and switches the lights back off, she lies back onto the bed. Jim doing the same as her and wrapping his arm around her waist.

 

“I love you,” Jim whispers against the back of her shoulder after a few peaceful moments of silence.

 

“I love you too,” Claire mumbles, as she glances at the wedding ring on her finger.

**Author's Note:**

> is there anything i have to say bc in that case ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](https://jimlakejunior.tumblr.com)


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